24 And a certain Jew named aApollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent man, arrived at Ephesus, and he was powerful in the Scriptures.

25 This man was instructed in the 1way of the Lord, and being afervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew 2only the bbaptism of John.

26 And this man began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And when Priscilla and aAquila heard him, they took him to themselves and expounded the bway of God to him more accurately.

27 And when he intended to pass through into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and awrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he arrived there, he helped much through 1bgrace those who had believed;

28 For he vigorously confuted the Jews publicly, showing by the aScriptures that Jesus was the bChrist.

CHAPTER 19

1 Now while aApollos was in Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper districts, came down to bEphesus and found some disciples,

2 And he said to them, Did you 1receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said to him, On the contrary, we did 2anot even hear whether there is a Holy Spirit.

3 And he said, Into what then were you baptized? And they said, Into 1aJohn's baptism.

4 And Paul said, John baptized with a abaptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe into the One coming bafter him, that is, into Jesus.

5 And when they heard this, they were baptized 1into the name of the Lord Jesus.

6 And when Paul 1alaid his hands on them, the Holy bSpirit came 2upon them, and they 3spoke in ctongues and dprophesied.

7 And there were in all about twelve men.

(3) The Ministry and Its Fruits --The Lord's Word Growing and Prevailing19:8-20

8 And he 1entered into the 2asynagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and bpersuading them in the things concerning the 3ckingdom of God.

9 But when some were hardened and would not be persuaded, aspeaking evil of the 1bWay before the multitude, he withdrew from them and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of 2Tyrannus.

10 And this took place for atwo years, so that all those dwelling in bAsia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and cGreeks.

11 And God did 1works of power of no ordinary kind through the ahands of Paul,

12 So that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his 1abody to the sick, and their diseases left them, and the evil 2spirits bwent out.

13 But some of the Jewish aexorcists who also went about took it upon themselves to name over those who had evil spirits the bname of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.

14 And there were seven sons of a certain Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, doing this.

15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them, Jesus I know of, and with Paul I am acquainted; but who are you?

16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped upon them, subdued both ofthem, and overpowered them, so that they escaped out of that house naked and wounded.

17 And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, dwelling in Ephesus; and afear fell upon them all, and the bname of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

18 And many of those who had believed came, 1aconfessing and making known their 2practices.

19 And a considerable number of those who practiced magic brought their books together and 1burned them before all; and they counted up the price of them and found ittobe fifty thousand 2pieces of silver.

23 And about that time no small adisturbance took place concerning the 1bWay.

24 For a certain man named 1Demetrius, a silversmith who 2made silver shrines of 3Artemis, afforded no little business to the craftsmen.

25 These he 1assembled together with the workmen of similar trades as well and said, 2Men, you know that from this business we have ouraprosperity.

26 And you observe and hear that not only at Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and perverted a considerable number, saying that the gods being made by ahands are no gods atall.

27 And not only is there danger that our trade will come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the agreat goddess Artemis will be counted as nothing and that the magnificence of her whom the whole of Asia and the inhabited earth worships will also be overthrown.

28 And when they heard this, they became full of rage and began to cry out, saying, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!

29 And the city was filled with confusion; and they rushed with one accord into the theater, seizing 1Gaius and aAristarchus of Macedonia, Paul's traveling bcompanions.

30 And when Paul intended to enter into the populace, the disciples would not allow him.

31 And some of the 1Asiarchs also, who were his friends, sent to him and entreated him not to venture into the theater himself.

32 So then some were acrying out one thing, and some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority did not know for what cause they had come together.

33 And they drew 1Alexander out of the crowd, the Jews having pushed him forward; and Alexander, amotioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the populace.

34 But when they realized that he was a Jew, one voice arose from all for about two hours, crying out, aGreat is Artemis of the Ephesians!

35 And the town clerk, having quieted the crowd, said, 1Men of Ephesus, which of you men is there then who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the image2fallen from aZeus?

36 Since these things therefore cannot be disputed, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash;

37 For you have brought forth these men whoare neither temple arobbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.

38 If then Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a matter against anyone, courts are being conducted and there are aproconsuls; let them bring charges against one another.

39 But if you seek after anything further, it shall be settled in the 1legal assembly.

40 For indeed we are in danger of being charged with ainsurrection for today's affair, since there is no reason forit;and with reference to it we will not be able to give an account concerning this disorderly gathering.

Note: We hope that many will benefit from these spiritual riches. However, for the sake of avoiding confusion,we ask that none of these materials be downloaded or copied and republished elsewhere, electronically or otherwise.Living Stream Ministry retains full copyright on all these materials and hopes that our visitors will respect this.